Improv Fest: Subtle mastery from Adsit and Lutz

Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune reporter

Chicago has long been improv's home base. Much of this is due to the ongoing influence of Del Close, the outsize personality and improv guru (and the subject of at least two films being developed about his life) who made the persuasive case that unscripted scene work could be more than just a rehearsal tool; it could be an art form itself.

And something worth your time even when it contains moments that aren't flat-out funny.

The last part is key. Sometimes it is enough just to sit back and watch strong performers write and act on their feet, which was the case midnight Saturday as the 16th Chicago Improv Festival headed into the home stretch with an off-the-books late-night show at Stage 773 featuring "30 Rock" co-stars Scott Adsit and John Lutz.

As performers, Adsit and Lutz don't have anything to prove. Both hail from iO and The Second City — Lutz was with The Second City's touring company; Adsit was part of the influential mid-'90s mainstage cast that included his future boss, Tina Fey. Certainly their presence at CIF (which lacks the marketing juice of something like Just For Laughs) gave the event some heft. It's good to see Chicago performers who have moved on to TV and film return to where it all started. I wish more did once-a-year events like this (and I wish CIF did a better job facilitating this sort of thing).

On "30 Rock," Lutz played a perennially abused writer on the sitcom's show-within-the-show, but he has an agreeably sick side that works well for improv. It's never in your face, from either Lutz or Adsit. Even when they were jogging in circles around the stage to the point of being out of breath — the sight of Lutz blubbering and running as a kid freaked out by his parents' divorce was deeply, unexpectedly funny — there's something low-key and unassuming about their approach.

More than most performers, they can seem to make amusing each other their primary focus, and if the audience happens to get something out of it, well that's just fine, too. This isn't a knock. Not every show needs to feel like a metaphorical embrace. Watching the two tinker around, their thought process laid bare, felt like eavesdropping, and it was thoroughly absorbing.

It was also a good reminder of just how strong an actor Adsit is. Freed from the neutered resignation of Pete Hornberger on "30 Rock" (the hangdog yin to Fey's acerbic yang), he had an unpredictability that prompted him to use every physical item within reach for inspiration, including the pendulum lamps overhead, which he jumped up to heedlessly knock around for a while.

He has a great look, too — like a "Doonsbury" character come to life — and a terrific way with intellectual bruiser types. In the early hours of Sunday, as a casting director both incredibly bored and incredibly pleased with himself, he informed Lutz's squirming actor: "I want you to tie your self-worth to the outcome of this audition." Few punch lines hit so deep.